'Memphis' opened on Broadway in October 2009 and won four Tony Awards in 2010. The touring version hitting Appleton on Tuesday stars Joey Elrose and Jasmin Richardson in the lead roles.

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But I heard it through the alleysIt floated on the breezeIt burst out through the doorwaysAnd it knocked me to my knees

So sings Huey Calhoun early in the first act of "Memphis," the young, white DJ so overcome by the sounds he's experiencing in a black Beale Street club that he dubs it the music of his soul. The rock 'n' roll provides him with an almost religious awakening. He was lost but found. Was blind, now sees.

That's the sort of power the national tour of the award-winning Broadway musical aims to bring to audiences at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in downtown Appleton beginning ...